She had a lot of rabbits. They were exceedingly cute, and endearingly soft, and the rabbit lady was clearly very into them and I learned many things about rabbits and rabbit husbandry that it had never occurred to me that I wanted to know. Though to be fair, I knew next to nothing. Carrots aren't good for them, it turns out.
There was one breeding rabbit in her own cage, and the rabbit lady told us how she had recently become a mom for the first time, and it didn't work out, and her babies died. Probably sensing that this could be upsetting to the high-strung 9-year-old present, the rabbit lady didn't say how they died, but clearly the mom rejected them. "But it's okay," she said, "It happens sometimes. She's doing fine. The next day, she was out in the garden and took a giant leap of joy!"
I mean...obviously we don't want to take the bunny anthropomorphism too far. But this just made my heart sink. And not because the baby bunnies had died, but because the bunny mommy had the option of rejecting her kids and then hopping off as if nothing had happened. Nothing had happened. It's normal. For a bunny, not bonding with your kid is not, like, something you have to overcome with sheer will power (while also experiencing anxiety and sleep deprivation) because what kind of a horrible person and fucked up mother would you be if that happened...ya know?
Apparently I still have some issues to work through here. Meanwhile, we ordered a bunny cage and are going to pick it up tomorrow, and as soon as I figure out what to lay out on the balcony to keep rabbit feet at a comfortable temperature, I'll be emailing the rabbit lady again about acquiring a couple of (definitely non-breeding) bunnies.
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